Newcastle United is grappling with a slew of injuries ahead of their upcoming fixtures against Manchester United, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, and Bournemouth. Manager Eddie Howe has expressed frustration over losing two key players, Jacob Murphy and Harvey Barnes, to what he describes as “very bizarre” injuries.
As of now, Newcastle United is without eight senior players for their Carabao Cup fourth-round clash against Manchester United. Unfortunately, the injury situation doesn’t seem likely to improve for their upcoming matches, including a Premier League game against Arsenal and a Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund.
Among the injured players, Alexander Isak (thigh), Elliot Anderson (back), and Sven Botman (knee) are injuries that Howe can “sort of understand.” However, the losses of Murphy and Barnes, both of which are described as “difficult to take,” have left the manager frustrated.
Regarding the injuries, Howe commented, “The Jacob injury is hugely frustrating because that’s a strange injury you don’t normally see. It’s the same with Harvey – very, very bizarre injury out of nothing. They’re the ones you rue. It can happen; your more traditional football injuries you can sort of understand, but the ones that come out of nowhere are difficult to take.”
Conversations between Howe and Newcastle’s medical team are ongoing as they work to determine whether Murphy may require surgery. Murphy dislocated his shoulder during a match against Dortmund last week and will not be available for the game against Manchester United, having also missed a recent 2-2 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers. On the other hand, Barnes is expected to be out of action until late December after sustaining a toe injury during Newcastle’s 8-0 victory over Sheffield United in September.
Additionally, Newcastle has had to deal with the loss of Sandro Tonali for 10 months. This situation arose due to an investigation by Italian authorities into illegal betting activity.